Franken blasts approval of Comcast-NBC merger

Sen. Al Franken said that Tuesday’s approval of the Comcast-NBC Universal merger by the Federal Communications Commission is a “tremendous disappointment” that protects corporate interests.

“What we see today is an effort by the FCC to appease the very companies it’s charged with regulating,” Franken said in a statement criticizing the merger. “With approval of this merger, the FCC has given a single media conglomerate unprecedented control over the flow of information in America.”

The merger was approved Tuesday by both the FCC and Justice Department.

Franken has been an outspoken critic of the NBC-Comcast merger since it was announced more than a year ago. The decision is the second in recent weeks from the FCC that's rankled Franken — he also criticized the FCC’s Net neutrality regulations that were approved last month.

Franken, who once worked for NBC on “Saturday Night Live” and as a producer, said he didn’t trust promises made by executives during a hearing last February, citing his past experience. In November, Franken called for an antitrust investigation into the merger.

A Duluth native who just barely lost Virginia's GOP gubernatorial primary said that politicians have not gone far enough in condemning the left for violence during a rally of white nationalists in Charlottesville. "I think that the left is going to try to use this as an excuse to crack down on conservative free speech," said Corey Stewart. "I think they're going to try to use this as an excuse to remove more historical monuments."